April 2026 has been a big month for me, in terms of video game collecting. I added a top-loading NES console to my collection in the first half of the month, and now I have… this:
The SEGA Genesis, the 16-bit console with “high definition graphics”, is a console I first bought back in 1992. NFL Sports Talk Football ’93 was the game that sold me, thanks to Sports Talk technology that allowed for play-by -play commentary– which was something new in console video gaming at the time. From there, the Genesis became my primary sports video game console. NHL ’94 (and NHL 96), NBA Showdown ’94, World Series Baseball, and the NBA JAM releases are just a few of the games that were go-to plays… and PGA Tour Golf games got me into the sport like no other games before them.
Now, in 2026, the Genesis is back in my collection, along with a starter library of 34 games. Many are the sports games that I mentioned above, along with a few others. There’s some different games, too, like the first two Road Rash games, Skitchin’, and OutRun.
My Genesis journey is just beginning, and there are more games that I’ll be looking for in the coming weeks. While I’d like to get more complete-in-box games, they do take up a fair amount of shelf space versus loose carts, so it’s something I’ll be thinking about as time goes on. Loose games are (obviously) less expensive, too.
On the NES side of things, my library has exploded in size since the last Collector’s Log, from 64 games to 154. Many of these have come from visits to my local video game store, while others have come from online retro stores. I’ve been culling games for PS2 that I haven’t played in almost a decade (or longer), and the proceeds have enabled me to get games in bunches. There’s some higher-value games, like Power Blade and Dusty Diamond’s All-Star Softball, but dollar amount isn’t what I’m after– instead, it’s about putting together a library of games that I want to play. Most aren’t sprawling adventures that require a lot of time. Instead, most are shorter, one-sitting games, which match up well with how I like to play. Here’s a look at what’s new:
My focus, at least for now, is on continuing to build my NES and Genesis libraries. A secondary objective is to look at my games for other platforms and make some decisions on what to keep and what to let go of. PS2 is the big one here to trim, as I have games that just haven’t been played and likely won’t be anytime soon.
From here on, one final goal is to share one Collector’s Log entry per month, rather than do smaller, more frequent ones. I’ll share what’s new, what’s changed, and any notables added.
Pete's Perspective 
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